James’ lively and challenging work as an artist and communicator “advocating a message that was contrary to government’s policies on the subject” led to her winning this year’s inaugural PEN Canada / Ken Filkow Prize, a prize to be awarded annually to an individual or institution in Canada who has demonstrated courage and integrity in freeing information and ideas from restraint or interference.

James has also been awarded the Liberty Award for Excellence in the Arts, by the BC Civil Liberties Association, noting her focus on environmental and social justice, and her fight for free expression as a few of the reasons they named her recipient.

“Franke James is hopelessly naïve and incurably optimistic,” says Richard Littlemore a former journalist and co-author of Climate Cover-up. “Seriously, in an age when so many people trudge through life like death camp guards, blithely accepting that politicians are corrupt, that climate change is inevitable, and that their best recourse is to go along for the ride, Franke James can’t contain the urge, when she sees something wrong, to stand up and shout “That’s not right!””

In light of the upcoming federal election, her lecture is timely and relevant and is sure to provoke and possibly inspire others to action.